By Conrad Dudderar
Senior Staff Writer
Yukon firefighters and police officers are getting new radios.
The City of Yukon has bought 24 portable radios for the fire department and 18 portable radios for the police department from L3Harris Technologies, Inc.
Cost is $40,740 for the new fire radios and $24,633 for the new police radios.
This portable radio replacement is funded through capital improvement budgets of Yukon’s public safety departments.
Yukon Fire Chief Shawn Vogt and Police Chief John Corn recommended this purchase from the Lynchburg, Virginia vendor through a City of Oklahoma City radio contract.
The purchase was “budgeted for this year as part of a system upgrade,” Chief Vogt said.
The new radios with speaker microphones cost $1,697.50 each for the fire department and $1,368.50 each for the police department.
“This item just takes care of the hand-held devices that each sworn member carries,” Chief Corn explained. “We’re in the process of working with Oklahoma City on our mobile devices.”
The City of Yukon is a subscriber on the City of Oklahoma City’s radio system.
Oklahoma City is converting from an EDACS system to a P25 system.
“This moves our equipment in line with that since we operate on their system,” Corn said.
In a related item, the City of Yukon is submitting a $9,759.50 grant request to fund seven portable radios for the Yukon Police Department.
The Oklahoma District Attorneys Council has been asked to consider Yukon’s grant request as a candidate for federal funding.
If the JAG-LLE (Justice Assistance Grant – Local Law Enforcement) grant is approved, the funds will pay for the hand-held radios, chargers, speaker mics, and antennas.
NEW LIBRARY BOARD MEMBER
A new member has been appointed to a City of Yukon advisory panel.
Jenah Hamilton, a veteran Yukon educator, becomes the at-large representative on the Yukon Library Board. Vice Mayor Jeff Wootton, the at-large city council member, recommended Hamilton for the post.
